Men’s 2014 Olympic Ice Hockey Betting Odds

by Scott Burgess on Friday, July 26th, 2013

The 2014 Winter Olympics will be celebrated February 7-23 2014, in Sochi, Russia. With just over a year to go before the 2014 Winter Olympics officially open in Sochi, it’s time to start thinking about Men’s Olympic Ice Hockey. Twelve teams will compete in the men’s tournament. Preliminary schedules have the tournament beginning on February 8th, with the Gold medal final concluding on the 23rd. Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal in a 3-2 overtime win over the United States in the 2010 Olympic gold-medal game in Vancouver. But in Sochi, oddsmakers have Team Russia listed as 11/5 odds favorite to win Gold at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Let’s preview the fued between Canada vs Russia and the other Men’s Olympic Ice Hockey Odds.

Team Russia has an all-star roster looking for gold on home soil. Forwards Pavel Datsyuk, Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin are among the 35 players invited to Russia’s pre-Olympic hockey camp next month. Goalies Sergei Bobrovsky and Evgeni Nabokov, defencemen Anton Volchenkov and Andrei Markov and forwards Alexander Semin, Vladimir Tarasenko and Nail Yakupov are other NHL players expected to attend the Aug. 23-24 camp. Former New Jersey Devils sniper Ilya Kovalchuk, who retired from the NHL two weeks ago and subsequently signed on with SKA St. Petersburg of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, was also invited.

Team Canada will be headlined by eight of the NHL’s top 15 scoring leaders from 2013, including champion Martin St. Louis. Sidney Crosby will be front and centre. Fifteen of the 23 players on Canada’s 2010 roster have been invited to the summer camp: Goalie Roberto Luongo, defencemen Dan Boyle, Drew Doughty, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Shea Weber, and forwards Patrice Bergeron, Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Rick Nash, Mike Richards, Eric Staal, Joe Thornton, Jonathan Toews and Crosby. The list includes five goalies, 17 defencemen and 25 forwards.

Who will be the Starting Goaltender for Team Canada for Game 1 of the 2014 Olympics?
Carey Price 5/7
Roberto Luongo 1/1
Any Other Player 5/1

Carey Price was on all three Olympic rosters, and he would seem like the favorite to be the No. 1 if he proves his late-season struggles are behind him when the 2013-14 NHL season begins. If not Price, there are several options, but do any of them stack up against Henrik Lundqvist, Jonathan Quick or Tuukka Rask? Cam Ward, Mike Smith and new Cup champion Corey Crawford are among candidates to make the roster. Oh, and the player who started the 2010 gold-medal game, Roberto Luongo, is a starter again in Vancouver and certain to be in the mix.

Will Canada win a gold medal in men’s hockey at the 2014 Olympics?
Yes 9/4
No 4/13

The Canadians have not won gold outside of North America since 1952. In fact, Canada hasn’t medaled in the two Olympics with NHL participation that occurred elsewhere, finishing fourth in Nagano, Japan in 1998 and losing three times in six games, including in the quarterfinals to Russia, in Turin, Italy, in 2006.

The Bottom Line: Russia will play their best trying to win gold and if they don’t it will be an outrage. They have too much talent. We recommend you sign up with Bovada to receive a 10% sign up bonus heading into the 2014 Winter Olympics.